Ethereal Maelstrom
by Majingohan28
Summary: AU; Shikamaru-centric fanfic, where he has to deal with a changing worldview, women, and coming to maturity. Shikamaru/Hinata ?
1. Chapter 1

Ethereal Maelstrom

Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto, I'm just a poor college student; if I did own it I dang sure wouldn't be in college to make money in the future right now.

6:29 am.

The young teen glanced over at the clock. It was too early in the morning. He had given up on alarms due to several past experiences regarding their annoying tendencies. Like, for example, waking him up from peaceful dreams.

6:32.

Why doesn't it just change to the time when he would need to get up anyways? He reached blindly to the stand on the right side of his bed, where the remote was conveniently placed. Pushing the trusty red button he turned on the radio to the AM station it was on the last time it was cut on. Some people talked about weather reports. Apparently it was supposed to rain later in the day.

Thinking about the weather is tiring. If you're tired you go to sleep. Sounds like a plan.

A few minutes later he was roused from his sleep by screaming. It isn't even time to get up yet. With that the boy looked over again to the clock.

7:35.

"What the heck are you doing!? Get out of bed! You need to be there in 25 minutes!"

_This is bad_ he thought. He slid out of bed. Shirt and pants were conveniently laid out on the desk chair. Slipping on the shirt, he wandered into the living room, where a piece of toast was shoved into his face.

"You must enjoy me driving you to school to keep missing your bus in the morning like this." She already had coat, and what appeared to be an umbrella tucked under her arm. The clock on the side of the mantle read 7:49. It had taken him 14 minutes to put on his shirt and pants.

With barely the time to recognize what was going on, he was pulled by a force outside and towards the grey Excursion.

"Shoes," he said with a cough, with little pieces of masticated toast flying from his mouth.

"In the car" she replied. Opening the door and flinging her charge in the passenger seat. Strapping herself in after he more calmly opened and shut her own, he said only two more words;

"Buckle up."

From their location in their quiet community, the school was within walking distance even. But the driver was practiced at this route. All things considered, this was a rather easy morning. The images outside of the window were only a blur. The shocked faces, the leaping pedestrians. A proficient player of that Grand Auto game or something would've been proud. But when one is in fear, one doesn't think about these things when one's life is threatened. Then your body runs on basic self-preservation, pumping out adrenaline and endorphins throughout the body in order to heighten the senses. Better than coffee, and no need to wait for brewing.

The car slammed on the brakes, and he was shocked out of his reverie with the belt halting his forward momentum, and similarly whiplashing him back into the seat. He glanced at the perturbed face in the driver's seat, then down at the dashboard.

7:53.

It was supposed to be a 10 minute drive. Her top time was 1:34 from driveway to drop-off though, so all things considered this was a rather peaceful drive. He gazed once more at the face glowering down at him, and it broke out into a caring smile.

"Have a nice day at school Shikamaru."

With a corner of his toast still in hand, he shakily got out of the car, and as soon as the door was closed, the car sped off. Chewing, he heard the quiet chuckles of the students around him. Indeed some of them were milling about the gates to the school. He suspected that some of them found some type of entertainment from the morning spectacle. But they had the decency to not make a big deal out of it.

Then again, one of the voices wasn't exactly chuckling. Wasn't exactly quiet either. He turned his neck as far as he felt and saw out the corner of his eye the female that was now bent over in palls of laughter.

"Yea yea yea" Shikamaru said, walking past the voice through the gate.

"But you didn't see your face" said the voice, as she appeared to get her laughter under control. Out of the corner of his eye Shikamaru noticed the glitter of blonde hair as she turned to follow him. How did he manage to become friends with her anyway? You would think he had learned from his mom's example.

He fully glanced back to view her as he passed through the door, and she was following him about 2 paces behind. The door into the main high school building was just shutting so he slinked in, which had the effect of barring Ino from passing just as she got to it. She glowered at him from the outside, and like the dutiful man, he made to open the door, sighing as he did so.

"Why thank you sir." She tossed her hair back and paraded through, a small throng of girls seemingly materializing on the other side to whisk her away. How were they always there anyways?

He sighed again. Through the halls, up the flight of stairs, to the left hand side by the water fountain that never worked. You'd think that the school would've fixed that by now, but they hadn't. But next to that fountain was his first destination.

"47…9…54." He opened his locker and took out his English book and notebook. There were other classes but he didn't particularly care for them as much, so those books could stay right where they were. They weighed too much anyways.

"Shouldn't you get your history book too?" The locker next to his opened up as his friend grabbed his books for the morning.

"Morning Chouji."

"Morning Shikamaru." Chouji pulled an apple out of his backpack and took a bite out of it, even as he continued to add more books into his arms. Complete, he closed his locker and followed Shikamaru, who had already begun to walk towards homeroom.

"Why don't you ever put your books in your backpack? It'd be easier to carry them around."

"Easy" Chouji said taking the last bite from the apple and setting the core on top of his books. "I wouldn't want my sandwich or chips to get crushed in the bag by them."

"But you can put them in a box to do that you know."

"Yea, but if you carry your books then you would have more room to carry lunch, plus snacks for the day."

A bare smile crossed his face, as he got into homeroom. Most of the students were there already. As he got to his seat in the back, he noticed Ino wave outside to her clique and stroll into the homeroom, flicking her hair once again as she got into her seat. It was a wonder she didn't give herself whiplash sometimes.

"You know if you do that too much, you'll get carpal tunnel syndrome in your neck."

"Is it a crime to have such luxurious hair? I think it'd be a crime not to-"

"I think it might actually be a crime flower-girl. The fashion police have a warrant out for your arrest." The pink-haired girl in front of them said without turning around.

"Oh, I think they're already looking for you. And you're one to talk. Who has pink hair anyways?" Ino retorted.

Shikamaru sighed. This happened every morning. One would find something to complain about and then attack the other one, who would respond. Weren't those two like good friends last year anyways?

Thankfully at that time the homeroom teacher came in and told everyone to quiet down. Then the intercom came on and principle Sarutobi made his standard announcements, including the basketball team getting owned by Mist High. Now, that was a principle after his own heart. Principle Sarutobi never seemed to get particularly ruffled by anything. From what he had heard from teachers, he seemed almost like a slacker. Nothing like that...

"Now, midterms are coming up. You kids better make us look good!"

… like that vice-principle we have. She was just scary. She took everything too seriously. But soon enough announcements were over and the day began. First bell rang and the trio walked to their first class. As they walked in, Iruka-sensei was writing some figures on the board. Shikamaru and Chouji took their normal seats at the back, while Ino sat near the center of the class, where two of her throng were seated.

"Okay class" Iruka said after the last bell had rung. "Today we are going to go over-"

The door slammed open, and the perpetrator panted next to it. "Sorry fa being late teach. Had to make sure Akamaru was going to be alright."

"Being tardy is a serious offense Kiba. And this is the second time this week that this has happened." As he said this he had reached into his pocket he pulled out a small blue pad. "I'm afraid that you are going to have to serve detention on Friday." He quickly filled out the top sheet, and tore it off and handed it to Kiba.

Kiba turned around muttering to himself, as he sat in the row in front of the two friends.

"You should wake up earlier if taking care of Akamaru is truly a priority for you. Plan your time better and you'll be able to do it easily."

"Yeah yeah. Don't worry about me Shino."

Shikamaru took a moderate amount of notice when he spoke up. He was a notoriously quiet person, so whenever he spoke up you took notice. Even when teachers asked him questions he would only respond with short answers. And he always wore those same sunglasses, even in class. Teachers had used to complain about it but his grades were good, so they didn't even bother now. Did he ever take them off? How did he see at night anyways?

Shikamaru set his head on the desk while Iruka started to explain the new math concept. Classes were so boring. It wasn't even anything against the teaching style. It was just that when tangents become important to modern life, he would learn it then. Until then, using the energy would just be a waste of time.

"Hey Shikamaru! You awake?"

Shikamaru sat up with a jump, and glanced at the clock. Twenty minutes had passed into the class, and Iruka had called his name. Deftly wiping the moisture from his face, he made the obvious decision befitting a person in his situation.

"Uh, what did you say Sensei?"

With a sigh, Iruka pointed to an equation on the board. Shikamaru quickly realized that he was expected to give the answer to the problem. Well, if it was a new concept he'd have a little time to figure it out. He began to settle back into his chair.

"On the board Shikamaru" Iruka said, repeating what Shikamaru had already figured out. "Come up here and do it out on the board."

--

Shikamaru woke up with a start from the hill that he was on. Guess the grass really was pretty comfortable. He didn't look forward to getting home just then however, as he gazed into the horizon. The sun had already set, and the moon was just making it's presence felt into the night sky.

'Mom's gonna kill me' he thought as he stretched his bones as he made the motion to sit up. It was a real possibility for him to just decide to stay out all night. Going home just to get yelled at for coming home late was a fool's errand. And then there was the issue of everything that had happened at school that day. Going home definitely wasn't going to be a positive situation.

'However,' he thought as he forced his legs to work as he started walking down the hill 'not going home and facing everything tomorrow is going to be even more dangerous. Anyways-' the thought was cut midstream as a cold wind blew through his shirt, chilling his exposed arms. It wasn't too far from home, and this hadn't been the first time that he had fallen asleep after all. All things considered, getting home late wasn't even going to be that big of a deal. But as for the other problem…

He had to walk through a beat up part of the main city in order to get home. A lot of unsavory characters were over there at night. There was even rumors of gangs that fought it out in that part of town sometimes. He had almost even gotten involved in an annoying situation one time, but he managed to get out of the spot in enough time. He glanced to both sides of the street. Drunk, drunk, person who looked like he wanted to be drunk at a bus stop. The list of people he wouldn't want to ask for directions grew as he continued his path down the street.

He glanced up at another of the streetlamps that glowed and flickered above him. That was something that annoyed him more than the décor of the location that he was at. None of the lights in this part of the city worked anymore. And the fact that they were there at all made it harder to see the stars. Part of the reason that he liked the hill he was on so much was the lack of the lights. When he was out some nights – with his mother's permission of course – he liked to just lay back and watch them glitter. The backdrop of the city's glow reminded him of just what a nice, boring-

At that moment he heard yelling down an alley off to his right hand side. Sounded like a couple people over there at least. Geez, you'd think they could talk in a normal tone of voice. But anyway, the base rule in the city was that if it didn't involve you, you just ignored it. This type of thing happened now and again in these parts. It's best not to get involved in things that don't matter to you anyways. He turned to walk away.

Just then he heard a shriek and more yelling. That sounded like a girl's voice. That was something that you didn't hear in these parts now and again. At least not that he ever knew of. But it still didn't involve him. Somebody else would get over there if it was serious at all.

He took a few steps and glanced over to the bus stop where the soon-to-be-drunk person was waiting. The person had his head up and turned to the direction of the voice. Then the person simply turned away and looked for the bus. It still wasn't coming. He sat down onto the bench.

"Why isn't he going" Shikamaru muttered to himself. But why wasn't he going either? His mind quickly went through all the reasons why he should just keep walking home. His mom was expecting him. The people yelling might be armed. He certainly wasn't armed. He reached into his pocket to make sure nothing useful had appeared in it anyways. Nope, just his wallet with the rest of his allowance in it, his pen, and the little string that was at the bottom of all of his pants.

At that point he heard another scream, further away than the first he had heard. Noticing two broken pieces of concrete he stuffed one into each of his pockets and took off with a dash towards the direction of the voice.

'How did I get into this position anyways? How troublesome.'

The owner of the voice was in a bit of a bind herself at the time. It was scary enough to be walking down a dark alley like this at all, but then two people came out of nowhere and started talking about partying and what not. They had walked towards her, and shocked at meeting new people, she had done what seemed like the logical decision at the time: run in the opposite direction.

But then they had chased her, and a piece of concrete had caused her to stumble. Now she was trapped, and the two guys were chuckling to themselves and moving towards her. She felt faint. She didn't want to go back. She couldn't go back to that place.

The one with longer, slicked-back hair was chuckling. "Boss told us that whoever found you would be well compensated." Long-Hair looked back to his companion, and chuckled again. "But then again, I was thinking that it would be a good idea to take part of our payment early. Wouldn't that be nice Jeremy?" He said motioning to the other one with shorter hair.

But Jeremy wasn't looking at his friend anymore. Turning his head, Long-Hair's face met with a piece of concrete as it was slammed into his head from the short-haired kid who had slammed it into his head.

"Hey, who ar-"

Jeremy didn't finish his sentence as this new brat threw the slab towards him. Moving with practiced skill, he quickly moved his hand to smash the rock before it hit his head. But he had missed the fountain pen that was tied to the slab before it was thrown. Moving his head in surprise, the pen imbedded itself slightly into his cheek, causing him to scream out in pain.

"Come on" the boy said. Still not knowing what was going on, the girl felt her arm being seized by the short-haired boy, and soon they were both running back in the direction where she had come from initially.

"Hurry, we need to get back to the main road. Why were you wandering down an alley at night anyways? Idiot."

She, however, was still shocked. And confused. Shocked and confused. She decided to ease at least one of those problems.

"Who are you?"

"If you have time to talk you have time to run faster" said the boy. "We need to get back to the road." She nodded to him, and picked up her pace.

Shikamaru was slightly startled when he felt his arm being pulled by the girl. Of course, by this point he was darn near ready to go to sleep. Running was not one of his specialties. And for the last few minutes he had done quite a bit of it.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you!!"

Shikamaru hazarded a glance back, and was discomforted by what he saw. Both of the men he had attacked were back up and behind him. And gaining on him to boot. He had hoped that he would've been able to knock both of them out, but with the way the second guy had deflected the rock he figured he was going to be chased. But the other guy was up too?

Shikamaru had to act fast. Letting go of the girl's arm, he grabbed hold of a pile of garbage bags he had seen on the way to save her, and pulled hard on it. He only needed to buy a little bit of time. The pile toppled down the narrow alleyway. He turned back to the girl, who was still standing right where he had let go of her.

"Come ON" he shouted, again grabbing hold of this girl's arm and again turning to run. It was only a little bit further. He glanced back, and saw the second goon clear the garbage. Cleared spectacularly in fact. It must've been by four feet! He saw the light, and the corner to the alley just in front of him. So close.

"Got ya." One of the goons was about to grab her arm. Thinking quickly, Shikamaru shoved the girl forward around the corner, out of the man's grasp. The goon's hand glanced Shikamaru's arm, which sent a surprising amount of pain through it. The goon didn't even grab him!

Taken aback by the pain, he found himself rolling on the ground until his body was brought to a stop by the streetlight in front of him. Panting, he looked back, and saw both of the goons walking towards him. The girl he had shoved was still cowering near the corner she had fallen at. You'd think she'd know enough to run away, again. And again she hadn't. Figures.

"You've given us a bit of trouble brat" said the one with longer hair. "But don't you worry. We'll pay yas back for it."

Shikamaru got up and dashed down the street again. The one who was bleeding with short hair was faster than he was though. He grabbed Shikamaru by the arm. Shikamaru tried to punch him with his free arm, but again the man was faster than he was, and hit Shikamaru. Hard. Shikamaru tumbled down until he was backed up to another streetlight.

"I'll make you pay… for scarring my FACE!"

It was then that he looked in Short-Hair's eyes. They were blank. Totally blank. Even in the streetlight he couldn't even see the pupil. A Hyuuga? What was one of them doing downtown?

They both walked together towards Shikamaru, the girl forgotten for the time being. Shikamaru stood up, one hand in his pocket, one in the air.

"If you want my money, you can have it." The two chuckled at this, and saw as Shikamaru tossed a rock at the two of them with the hand that was in his pocket. It landed between them.

They looked closer at the object. Wait a second, there was a wallet tied to the rock. What was going on?

Long-hair turned towards the brat and noticed that he had his hands together in front of him in some weird manner. It was then that he noticed that he couldn't move.

"Heh" said the brat. "Good thing that I was able to get you both over here. You see..." both of the goons felt their heads being raised slightly to look at the streetlight "I needed a working streetlight to do this with 100 certainty. So many of them downtown are on the fritz you know. You get to notice the ones that actually work right.

"But I almost wasn't able to make it over to this one. Thank you for the help with that by the way."

"Just who the hell are you!"

"Won't matter much to you guys. The last part of the plan was that I needed you two to be facing each other. That way I could do this. Figure it's a fitting punishment for someone who likes to pick on a girl."

Shikamaru raised his fits, and the two goons started the same. And then Shikamaru started shadow-boxing. Except for the two of them, they were boxing with something a little more substantial than a shadow. Unfortunately for them, they were at about the same height, and their heads were fine targets. After a couple test swings, the two of them were beating the tar out of each other, leaving them as bloody pulps on the ground.

"Now then" he said, turning to the girl who was now standing up by the corner instead of being on her butt. "Who might you be?

That's when he saw her eyes. Pale as the moon.

Shikamaru sighed. 'I knew that tonight was going to be troublesome.'


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks guys for all the reviews! It made it alot easier to write knowiin someone wanted to read it! A day late, but all ready!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But if I do, first change will be to name it "Shikamaru" instead.

* * *

"Now then" Shikamaru said, turning to the girl, who was still standing over by the corner. "Just who might you be?"

The girl in question, however, was still taken aback by the first ten minutes of her meeting him. A lot of running, which wasn't necessarily anything new; but glancing down at the two goons that were chasing her, she realized that seeing that amount of violence was something new. How did he do that anyways? Was he psychic or something?

Hinata looked up at the boy in question. Actually, he seemed new too when you thought about it. She took a step back and promptly backed into the wall behind her.

Shikamaru noticed her shivering slightly. She wasn't wearing a jacket at all. Just what looked like a white shirt and a black mesh shirt under it, and shorts. It was cold outside after all. Well, it's best to take care of one problem at a time. He walked over to her, standing in front of her. He then raised one of his arms slightly, taking off his outer gray shirt. He then took it and draped it over her shoulders.

Hinata looked down at the jacket, then up to the boy whose face was surprisingly close, then jumped back and ran into the same wall as earlier. He wasn't coming any closer though, and still looked at her the same way he did before. Kinda like he was tired or something.

Now that she got a look at him, he seemed familiar. Swallowing and getting moisture in her mouth, she spoke.

"Thank you."

'For what' was the first thought that popped into his head. He raised his eyebrows slightly, causing the girl to jump a bit.

"Thank you very much for the jacket." As she said this she bowed deeply, causing Shikamaru to become slightly embarrassed. "And for saving me. And for… for."

At this she realized she wasn't making sense anymore, and stopped talking. She gradually raised her head from the bow and looked at his face. For a second his eyes were wide, then they narrowed and he sighed. Was she… not supposed to thank him?

"Don't worry about it. I figured that if you were warmer then we actually might accomplish something here." Shikamaru crouched down, sitting on his haunches while never breaking eye contact with the girl – the Hyuuga – in front of him.

"First off" he said, raising one finger into the air. "Who are you? The Hyuuga family has to be the richest family in this town. It isn't normal for a rich person like you to be down here at this time of night. Second off, why were you being chased by them?" he said, pointing his extended finger towards the two goons, who were now moaning on the ground.

"Umm," the girl said, pressing two of her fingers together. Of course she should introduce herself. Father always said that pleasantries come first. "My name is Hinata. Hinata Hyuuga."

'Well, I already knew that she was a Hyuuga.' Shikamaru thought. Something wet hit his face. He wasn't crying was he? Looking up to the sky, he felt another drop hit him in the eye.

"Ahhh damn it," he said in surprise, rubbing his eye. Figures that it would start to rain tonight too. Anyway, it was about time to be heading back. He didn't particularly want to be outside when it's wet.

"You should be heading home now" the boy said to Hinata, standing up from his crouch. "It's not safe out here. And make sure not to head down any more alleys." He turned and started to walk away.

Home. "I can't go home" Hinata thought. Not back.

The boy paused, and turned around. The rain was pattering softly, which served to dampen the jacket that was now draped around her, but not to dampen her words apparently. Eyes widening in surprise, Hinata realized that she had spoken the last thought aloud. That, combined with the crashing adrenaline, combined with all that she had seen tonight, and done that day finally hit her. And in turn, she hit the ground.

Shikamaru's eyes widened and he sprinted back over to her. He shook her arm, but she remained motionless on the sidewalk. Who faints now-a-days anyways?

Shikamaru sat back and pondered. He could just leave her here, but then if something else happened to her it would be his fault, wouldn't it? But he couldn't carry her the whole way back to his house. It had to be at least two miles.

'If mom found out that I left a girl passed out on the ground, I'd never hear the end of it. Plus that isn't the type of thing to do to a girl anyways.'

Shikamaru got up and untied his wallet from the rock, and stuffed it into his back pocket. Still deep in thought, a solution to the problem came to his mind.

Hinata slowly came back to consciousness. She was damp from the rain falling onto her head and back. Coming out of the fog, she felt herself moving up and down slightly.

"What am I doing?" she muttered foggily.

"Being troublesome."

Her head shot up, and ran into the back of the boy's head. He yelped and muttered some words that she didn't quite hear. Then she looked down.

Her feet weren't touching the ground, but she was moving. She felt arms under her legs, and realized she was being carried.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She said, bowing her head, and promptly running once again into the back of the boy's head.

"OW! Stop that." He hoped that if she was conscious, she'd be able to walk again. The solution that he thought of was a troublesome one indeed, but his conscience wouldn't ever just allow for him to leave a helpless girl on the ground. But she was heavy. And he was tired. The entire chasing and running earlier had led them in the opposite direction of where he was going before all of this, so he needed to backtrack. And given what had happened in the alleys to cause all this, shortcuts were out of the picture. No more running tonight for him.

He heard an engine whirring behind him, and turned around to see his savior approaching. Letting his enthusiasm get the better of him, his face broke into a smile, and he dashed the final 12 feet, girl-on-the-back and all. Actually, her name was Hinata. Anyways, now at least one of the problems would be solved.

The door opened, and Shikamaru climbed aboard the bus, still carrying the gir-… err, Hinata, on his back. Shikamaru walked into the bus to the horizontal seats in front, and, turning so his back faced towards them, he dropped his package.

Hinata felt herself falling backwards, only to be stopped by a hard seat. She let out a squeak in surprise, and almost fell off of the seat before regaining her balance. The boy remained still for a second before turning his head back and looking down at her. Hinata felt her cheeks go red and looking up at the boy, saw him shake his head and walk back to the front of the bus. The boy dug into one of his side pockets for a second, before taking the hand out and patting around his pants. He let out a breath and reached into his back pocket, took out a couple bills and some change, and put them into the machine by the driver. He then walked back, and sat down in an adjacent seat.

"That was 1.25. You'd better pay me back later."

She nodded, and Shikamaru stretched his arms up behind his head, before wincing. He brought back one of his arms and saw that there was a large black discoloration on it. Isn't that where the short-haired goon touched him earlier? It shouldn't have been hard enough to bruise. He reached up to his face where he was punched and felt some tenderness. Then he reached back to touch the black spot. He winced again when his hand came in contact with it. What the-?

Hinata saw the boy wince, and then looked down to his arm. Her eyes widened when she saw the black. That was chakra-pathway damage! Without thinking she reached forward and grabbed his arm, causing him to scream in pain. She knew from the size of the bruise that it had to be treated soon.

Shikamaru for one was a bit stunned by the g-.. Hinata's sudden movements. And a bit more stunned, as well as annoyed, by the pain that shot into his arm when she took hold of it. Looking down at her hands, he was about to give her a piece of his mind when he saw her hands… glowing?

He brought up his free hand and rubbed his eyes, before looking down to her hands again. Yup, they were definitely glowing. Transfixed, he gazed down as the area around his arm gained a rosy tint, and the black bruise shrunk in size.

Breathing deeply, Hinata sat back in her seat. She looked down at his arm. There was a brown-ish discoloration on a few inches of his forearm, but all of the chakra pathways were repaired. The rest would heal in a few days.

Shikamaru flexed his arm. No pain. He looked up, and saw that his stop was next. Pulling the cord, he stood up as the bus came to a stop, and walked towards the exit.

Hinata saw him stand up. She had never ridden a bus before, so she wasn't used to it. Seeing him about to leave, she got up and followed him out of the door. The rain had slowed to a drizzle. Wrapping the boy's jacket to shield her head, she followed him down the street, unsure of what to say to him.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru was deep in thought. That Hinata-girl healed him. This means that that light must have been chakra. Shikamaru knew that healing using chakra was possible, but he had never seen it being done before. Chakra-use was a rare and protected ability – at least that was what his father had told him. He had also been instructed to not show other people it as well, since what he was taught was a clan secret.

"Well, I've already blown the 'not showing others' clause," he muttered to himself. Shaking his head, he realized that he didn't even remember to thank Hinata for healing him.

He came to a halt. Matter of fact, he forgot to even ask where she lives. He just left her on the bus. He quickly turned around, and saw that… she was behind him. He let out a sigh, before realizing that she had to just be following him at this point. That mansion that he had heard the Hyuuga lived on was on the other side of the town. Well, it's best to cover one thing at a time. Shikamaru took a deep breath.

"Thank you for what you did to my arm."He raised his arm up, indicated which one he was talking about. It was the one she had healed on the bus. Best to get that out of the way first. He saw Hinata bow her head down, and mumble what sounded like 'you're welcome', but there were more pressing matters at hand than getting bogged down in pleasantries.

"Why were you wandering around tonight in the first place?" he inquired. "And why are you following me? Shouldn't you be heading home about now? I know that your parents are bound to be worrying about you."

'Parents.' He shuddered, thinking about what HIS would do to him when he got home tonight. Or one of them at least.

Hinata heard the boy questioning her, and was at a loss for how to respond to him.

"I'm… not wanted… at home. I don't want to go back."

Shikamaru raised his brow at that statement. Unwanted? The Hyuuga family was supposed to be pretty rich. But he remembered that there were two branches of the family supposedly, with one being higher than the other. Could she be from that lower one? He guessed from how she held her head down it was more than likely.

"Alright," he said, trying another tack. "Why were you being chased then? I noticed that one of the goons back there was a Hyuuga too. Did you do something to them?" Her head shot up

"No!" she answered rather forcefully. Realizing she just yelled, she blushed and fidgeted for a second, before looking at his face. He wasn't reaching over to hit her though, and instead just continued to look at her, albeit with a slightly more surprised expression. "I didn't do anything to them."

Shikamaru frowned a little. This was getting nowhere. He tried at getting her to see the common sense position she was in.

"Well, if you can't go home, then where will you be sleeping tonight?"

Hinata indeed hadn't thought of this. Where would she go? Everyone she knew lived at the compound. Now that she realized it, she didn't really know that many people.

"I don't have anywhere to go."

Shikamaru sighed loudly. Then you should just head home then. He then said this aloud.

"I… ran away from home."

This situation was now heading to a place beyond troublesome. He was actually beginning to get a bit frustrated. He took a deep breath, calmed himself, and thought about the situation. So this girl – Hinata – was a runaway. She was being chased down for some reason, but the Hyuuga there didn't seem like the 'dutiful parent' type. So that means that they are probably looking for her right now.

A gust blew past. Shikamaru shivered. He was cold. And wet. And tired. And hungry. And this situation was troublesome.

"Well, being that I have a home, I am going to head to it." He said this in a callous manner, hoping that she would get the hint and turn to her senses. Anyway, continuing this discussion outside was going to give him a cold.

Noticing that Hinata simply continued to stand there in silence, he thought of a variety of lines that he could say to her. Something harsh like 'get lost' might cause her to go home. But he still didn't know where 'home' was exactly for her. Even the mansion he knew of he only had a vague idea of how to get to it from where they were now. He looked her up and down. She didn't seem like the type to be able to fight off someone either, so if she got into another situation like he had found her in…

He shook his head, and sighed again. There was only one solution to this problem.

"Well, you can come to my house. Then at least we can get out of this rain. Then in the morning we'll drive you back to your house." He turned to show where he was headed. "Come on."

--

"What are you doing back so late? I get a call from work from your school, and I come home early in order to talk to you, but you don't get back until after sundown? And then you come back with a girl? And you say you got into a fight?!"

Shikamaru sighed. He knew that this would happen. It was only natural really. But from such an innocent start you wouldn't think that this would all have happened anyways.

But still, he had to face her. It hadn't been a pretty site when he had walked in the door. His mom was sitting just inside the door, ready to pounce on him as he walked in; and she almost did to, when she had seen the growing bruise on the side of his face.

Much to his surprise, she flew into a flurry of motherly concern as opposed to the fury that he had expected. Maybe he would get out of all the trouble here after all.

Then she saw Hinata. She froze for a moment, before turning to Shikamaru.

"Just, who, is this….?"

"I can explain everything mom." He already expected her to freak out a bit. During the walk home he used the silence in order to plan out his response. It was simply really. He would paint the picture of how he had rescued the girl from obviously bad people. He was the hero of the situation. Heroes… don't get grounded, right?

But what he hadn't counted on was his mother talking to the girl in person. Hinata was flustered by the conversation, but explained everything in detail after some prompting. Shikamaru wasn't even in a situation to get in a word. When he tried, the response was.

"You sit right there and be quiet. I'll deal with you in due time."

Hinata was afraid. This woman was scary. She kept asking questions, but seemed to calm down after Hinata started talking. Except whenever the boy spoke up. Then she was reminded of what a scary woman she was.

During one of these occasions, Hinata took the opportunity to look around the house. The word that struck her was… there really wasn't a word to describe it. The living room had a mantel piece over the hearth with two antlers attached to a polished backing of wood. There was a computer in the corner, past the… hair?

She looked closer. There was another man sitting in a brown leather chair between her seat and the corner of the room. When did he get here?

Shikamaru felt Hinata scoot closer to him on the couch. When he had sat down after entering and the initial chaos, she had sat down next to him. He shivered. She was wet. Well, he was wet too. But it wasn't fair to be reminded of that just now. He was cold enough as it is without feeling more from her.

"So then," his mother turned fully to face him from her chair. "What are you going to do about all this?"

'What I'm going to do about all this? This isn't all my fault you know' he thought to himself. He took a glance over to his father on the But his mother continued to stare at him. He had to say something.

"Well" he began, finally able to say part of his prepared conversation, "It's pretty late tonight, so I was figuring that for right now we can get to sleep. Hinata seems to have some family issues to take care of, so I could figure that she could call home in the morning. This would allow her family to know that she's safe, and then she'll be picked up later."

Shikamaru closed his eyes and crossed his arms. That was a good plan, and takes in consideration the time and the relative condition of both her and him in default.

"Why doesn't she just call them now? I know that if I were her father I would be worried right now."

Shikamaru glanced at his father. Of all the times to speak up in a conversation. But it was reasonable. But if her problems really were with her family, then alerting them to her whereabouts isn't necessarily the wisest course of action. There wasn't yet enough information to solve the problem. The smartest course of action was to gather more information first before taking action.

"That sounds like an excellent idea dear. Hinata-chan, would you be able to call your family tonight?"

Hinata sat up with a start. They wanted her to call her family? But then they would know where she was wouldn't they? And they would come to get her. She looked over to the boy, who was looking right back at her. She quickly averted her gaze away from his.

"I have to call them?"

Shikamaru's mom caught the hint of nervousness in her voice. What was this girl doing out late at night anyway? She observed the girl for a few moments, and saw that she was shivering ever so slightly.

She glanced over at the clock. "Well, it is pretty late dear, and I think that these two have been through a lot tonight, like our son said. It can be done in the morning. I'll stay home tomorrow to make sure everything wraps itself up."

Shikamaru's eyes widened as he listened to his mother speak. In what seemed like mere seconds his mother had done a complete 180 degree turn. Wait, 180 degree? That sounds like math. Bah, dumb teacher.

'In any case' he realized, 'I just might get out of this situation alive after all.' He stood up, ready to put the endgame in motion. Anything else he could deal with tomorrow.

"I'll get bedding together for her to sleep down here." Shikamaru started to walk away to freedom – or the linen closet. Whichever you prefer.

"You'll be getting them for yourself. You'll be giving up your bed to the lady. It's a fitting START to your punishment young man."

"But mom-" he finished his sentence right there as he saw the look in her eye. Any more conversation would be meaningless. Turning around and raising one hand, he gestured with the thumb behind him.

"This way to 'your' room."

--

Shikamaru sighed. This was a long night. For what seemed like hours he had pandered to his mother's fetch quests in getting all of the things he needed together for 'her' room as well as dry clothes, bedding, towels and the like. Hinata was sitting down in his bed, wearing one of his t-shirts, and looking at him.

"Is there anything else you need?" He was genuinely tired at this point. And tired of this whole situation at this point. When you're tired you sleep. It sounded like a plan.

His brow knitted in concentration. Wait, when did he think that before?

Hinata blushed in embarrassment. He had already done so much for her. She shook her head vigorously side-to-side. Nodding, he said good night and before she had managed a response, he was already out the door.

Lying back on her bed, she took the chance to look around the room. It was fairly tidy - his mom was yelling at him earlier to clean it for her. She regretted making him go out of his way for her, but to tell the truth the room did look a lot better now. Turning her head to the side, she took comfort in the bare beige walls. They reminded her of her of her room at home.

Home. 'I wonder if father misses me' she wondered. But he has Hanabi-neesan now. Hinata moaned softly to herself. She was no longer needed there anyways.

She reached out blindly to grab her pillow to put it over her face, but her hand met with the small stand next to the bed. The crash of items falling onto the floor made her sit up. Then chatter met her ears. Turning her head about in surprise, she located the source of the sound. It was coming from a clock on the other side of the room.

She jumped up and ran over to the clock. How do you turn the radio off? Her hand went to a button on the top of it, but it met with fuzz before switching to some blaring music. Covering an ear with her hand, she saw the off button to the radio and shut it off.

Turning back to the bed, she saw all of the items from the stand strewn on the ground. Picking them up, she placed them all back onto the desk. On instinct she looked nervously to the door. No one was yelling. The door remained shut as it was left when he left. She let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She wasn't there anymore. There was no reason to be worried.

She fell forward on the bed, her fatigue seemingly hitting her all at once. Clutching the pillow to her chest, she burrowed her head into the soft down, closing her eyes and drifting towards unconsciousness. Her thoughts replayed the actions of the day. The running, the chasing. The boy. As sleep took her, her final thought made its way up to the top of her muddled brain.

'I… haven't even asked him… his name….yet.'

* * *

A/N: And done for chapter 2! Look forward to the next installment, and as always, input is always valued! Matta ashita!


End file.
